Magus Magesterim

by Blackhorn_The_Faithless

Time

Time was a cruel mistress, and the only mistress the princesses of Equestria ever had to adhere to. Not that they aged. It was quite impossible for an Alicorn to age over time, the amalgamation of earth, unicorn and Pegasus magic alluded to a body that never degraded, the perfect species for lack of a better term. Four Princesses to hold their kingdoms above all else as it were, and all immortal. Two of them were used to watching loved ones wither away and die. Celestia and Luna had lived for thousands of years, what was another six hundred?

But Cadance and Twilight were much less suited to the task, and their losses in the first half century devastated them.

Shining Armour was the first to go. Cadance was inconsolable, and for a time the Crystal Empire fell into a deep depression that mirrored their leader's, mourning the loss of their prince, their knight in shining armour. But, after a period of ten years, Cadance seemed to move on, and instead of remaining idle, began expanding her empire, and her armies. Concerned, the other three princesses approached her, and Cadance welcomed them with open arms, explaining her plans of a grand empire across her borders, capable of defending against windigos, ice giants and the Changeling hordes that had killed her husband so mercilessly.

She still wasn't the same, there was a seriousness about her that wasn't there before, but she seemed stable, so the others stepped back, and let her continue on her way. Almost three decades later, Twilight's friends began to die around her. Twilight's period of mourning lasted much, much longer. The first to go was gentle Fluttershy, and then Rarity, then Rainbow Dash, killed in a stunt gone wrong when she was well past her prime. Then Pinkie Pie, and lastly Applejack, who had buried her grandmother several decades before. Applejack bore no children, but the Apple line continued by her brother, and her sister.

Twilight shunned all contact for almost a century, pushing away her own descendants from her sister in law's line, her mentor and Luna, even her friend's grandchildren couldn't budge her. Spike tended to the grieving princess the best he could, but even he couldn't stand to be near her for long without becoming depressed. Ponyville went on without her for almost a century, as though nothing had ever happened, electing mayor after mayor, and treating the town as it always had. Twilight's guard became fat and lazy, and she became a bit of a joke within their ranks.

But when she emerged from her grief and saw what had become of her kingdom at the end of the one hundred and tenth year, a city rife with crime and corruption that not even Celestia and Luna had been able to annex and control, it cemented a resolve in her nopony ever knew she had.

She took to the streets like a magical plague, crushing everything in her way. Corrupt guards found themselves in dungeons or gallows, whole guilds of thieves and crime rings were obliterated overnight as Twilight's rampant magic destroyed almost half of her once beloved Ponyville, now turned haven for crime lords. The smoke alerted the other Princesses to their sister's plight, but by the time they arrived they were too late. Ponyville stank of burning and blood, and in the middle of it all was the fabled princess of Magic, cold of eyes and deaf to the protests of her victims.

Afraid she would become the next Nightmare Moon, the other three prepared for a fight, but upon seeing them, Twilight had merely burst into tears, and sought comfort in her mentor's hooves.

Twilight, poor innocent Twilight, had exposed herself to the horrors of a war nobody had ever expected, and had come out on top.

Whilst Executions didn't happen, her crusade had drawn the attention of overconfident crime lords who'd sent for her to be killed, and in that environment, it was kill or be killed, and she'd shown she could kill with the best of them. But at the end of the day, scared she'd slip back into a coma of grief, the other princesses tried to get Twilight to take back her throne.

She did, and with it came change.

The guard was thrown to the winds. Every guard in her city was fired, and disgraced. Those still loyal to her were left standing, but were purged of former rank and set to go through a strict training regime and psychological evaluation. If they passed, they returned to their jobs at the rank Twilight saw fit.

Thus, her trio of soldier's regiments were formed.

The Magisterim, Unicorns of the highest degree trained to fight non-lethally and lethally depending on situation. Iron willed, Resolute and ultra disciplined. The Aeronauticus, Pegasi of swift and deadly wings, wielding only the finest magesteel blades and armour. The assassins of her empire. And the Entranchun, Earth Ponies of strength beyond compare.

And thus, Ponyville was militarized, and she worked her way from the ground up.

This took almost another century before Twilight was ready to build another city, and build she did. She produced guilds of exceptional quality, highly trained officers to manage them so she didn't have to, and she expanded.

But, three cities later she stopped. Her population was steady, and thus her people were okay. Left with more free time that she'd had in the last century and a half, she started studying again, which made Celestia, who hadn't smiled in decades since her Twilight's apparent fall, smile again. Twilight seemed back to her old self. By this time, Cadance had figured out how to make Replica Crystal hearts that could channel the Heart's energy back to the other cities she held, keeping her ponies empowered as they were.

Things were finally peaceful.

Two hundred years Twilight Studied magic, all magic. Whilst the others did seem worried when she studied the dark arts, she came out unscathed. Over time, her body grew, as did Cadance's. Cadance took many suitors in her time. As Princess of Love, it was her duty. It also made her very wise in the ways of love and loss. Celestia seemed destined to celibacy, and Luna simply didn't bother. Twilight actively sought to ignore potential suitors, perhaps in a subconscious bid to be more like her mentor. Eventually, she took her first apprentice, and things started to get more interesting.

Twilight's teachings were much more in depth than that of Celestia's, including all the branches of magic. The first apprentice she took, she had to strike down upon the fourth lesson of dark magic, and she did so without pity or remorse. This vicious side of her worried Celestia, who had dubbed her Princess of Friendship, and that seemed to defy all the teachings of Friendship. However, a gentle reminder from Luna that she was closer to that of magic gave Celestia pause, and she had let it go, albeit hesitantly. She had two more apprentices in her time, one that tried to get a little too close to her in her teenage years and stormed off after Twilight explained how it could never work, and another that was almost as powerful as Twilight herself had been years before.

But that one was doomed to fail, and after being possessed by a spirit that Twilight had seen before, a spirit that terrified her, she had locked them away, encased in the trunk of a six hundred year old tree that would feed off her ex student's magic for generations, until Twilight found a way to kill the spirit within them, and not the student herself.

But, over time, she came to realise it was... impossible. Impossible without the elements that is. And that was something she could no longer use herself. And without another way to use them...

So, filing the problem away for later dealings with, she adopted another student. A much younger student, and more impressionable than her others.

Closer to her age when she'd begun learning.

And thus, the story of Fade Rift began, as well as his teachings, and the adventures he'd have along the way.

Comments

[bonamb]

First chapter. Looks good, if slightly violent xD